Portuguese & Italian top flight to use Video Referees

[Machado]

Quote

 

Portugal's first division will use video replay for all league matches beginning with the 2017-18 season, the Portugal FA said in a statement on Thursday.

Its implementation will cost €1 million, according to Portugal newspaper A Bola. Federation president Fernando Gomes admitted that he expected next season to be one of trial and error with the goal of full implementation for the 2018-19 season.

"We have always wanted to give the referees the best possible condition to carry out their duties, which have never been easy," federation president Fernando Gomes said. "The goal of the federation has always been to give our referees the best possible preparation and training and to make available for them the best tools so that they can exercise their function. Our goal is that the officials make fewer mistakes with this tool and we are convinced that it [video assistant referees] will be very important in minimising the margin of error."

Gomes added that the federation has already run nine tests offline but plans to go live for the Portuguese Cup final on May 28.

VARs can be used to review major decisions, including goals, penalty incidents, red cards and cases of mistaken identity. The VAR can either notify the referee, or the referee can ask the VAR for help. The final decision, as ever, rests with the referee.

Gomes said that the International Football Association Board (IFAB) has already cleared the way for the move.

"We know that the 2017-18 season will be one of testing and the VAR will be definitive for the 2018-19 season," he said. "IFAB, depending upon how capable they judge each federation to be, can authorise the official use [of VAR]. And we have already received an indication that this can be possible in our case."

FIFA is testing VARs ahead of their possible use at the World Cup, and the system ruled out a goal that had been given for France, and later overruled a linesman to grant Spain a goal during a friendly in March that saw Spain win, 2-0.

The IFAB approved experiments with VARs last year. UEFA research showed that in the last few seasons of Champions League football, linesmen got around 95 percent of offside calls correct.

 

 

https://www.espnfc.com/portuguese-liga/story/3118673/portuguese-first-division-to-use-video-assistant-referees-for-2017-18-season

[Guest]

Football is more and more becoming a joke. Is it any surprise it's mostly Americans suggesting this?

[Stan]

1 minute ago, LaSambadeStGermain said:

Football is more and more becoming a joke. Is it any surprise it's mostly Americans suggesting this?

how is it a joke?

Video referees, if used correctly, will be beneficial to the game. Just like goal-line technology has been. 

[Guest]

Just now, Stan said:

how is it a joke?

Video referees, if used correctly, will be beneficial to the game. Just like goal-line technology has been. 

Not to me.

Goal line technology guarantees to fix a referee issue as he can use it and the machines make the decisions for him, where as VAR will still require a human decision. If anything it will add more controversy.

As an example, imagine if the referee sees something and uses VAR to make a decision. Then later in that game there is another issue and then he doesn't see it so he doesn't use VAR. The controversy comes from "why did you check VAR then but not now?" And Colombian TV kept harping on about that in the Club World Cup where it was an issue. So it's either the referee has be spot on all game or falls to player pressure. It's a lose-lose situation because one he has to be pitch perfect or there will be controversy. The other simply isn't allowed in the game. 

Honestly im tired of the game trying to be "Americanized" to pander to their audience. I'm aware that non American sports have used VAR but this is mostly an American sports thing anyhow. It's a totally different mentality for sports over there. It's a good reason why I'm so put off by European football these days. I can't see how it will benefit from it.

[Stan]

how is video technology an American thing? 

It's used for Wimbledon each summer for the biggest tennis competition in the world.

It's used in all top flight and international rugby matches.

It's used in international cricket matches and various domestic competitions.

The VAR decides when it gets used. Not when the referee chooses to make a decision. That's what I'm aware of anyway. It's being used in the A-league in Australia. The referee missed an incident, play continued. VAR intervened and informed the referee there's something worth looking at. 

From the article above...

Quote

The VAR can either notify the referee, or the referee can ask the VAR for help

 

[Mel81x+]

Think its a step forward honestly. Sure it will have its initial hiccups but it will get better over time and then become much better for the sport in its entirety. The fact that referees have such a hard time making decisions based on team/player pressure will go away once this comes in because you can cheat the man on the ground but not the guy who has the ability to go back and watch the incident a few more times.

[Toony]

I think this could be useful but only if used in the correct way.

You don't want the game constantly interrupted and referred to a video referee if a foul is objected to or a throw-in was given the wrong way.

[Guest]

 

 

12 minutes ago, Stan said:

how is video technology an American thing? 

It's used for Wimbledon each summer for the biggest tennis competition in the world.

It's used in all top flight and international rugby matches.

It's used in international cricket matches and various domestic competitions.

The VAR decides when it gets used. Not when the referee chooses to make a decision. That's what I'm aware of anyway. It's being used in the A-league in Australia. The referee missed an incident, play continued. VAR intervened and informed the referee there's something worth looking at. 

From the article above...

 

How does it decide when it gets used? I'm assuming it's someone running the VAR. That's still a human decision. As I said it doesn't guarantee to fix an issue. I already used my CWC example in the past where there was an offside player and won a penalty. Despite almost 2 minutes of checking, they didn't see the offside and most people said the same. I think there was another example in that same tournament but I don't remember if off the top of my head.

Football is a very active game with few stops. No timeouts other than HT and several referee decisions. So how many stops will we have with VAR in a 90 minute match anyways? You can't compare football to cricket, basketball or even rugby. As for the Americanized bit, it's an easy assumption to say that they are trying to change the game to pander to American audiences, where it's the 4th almost popular sports. It's a different mentality there. I'll say North Americans to include Canadians, they like rough sports. I'm. Im not saying football isn't rough but not as much as NFL or NHL and they don't seem to think it is. I'm pretty sure this VAR bollocks originated from there. I'd have to double check a bit later on.

[Stan]

1 minute ago, LaSambadeStGermain said:

 

 

How does it decide when it gets used? I'm assuming it's someone running the VAR. That's still a human decision. As I said it doesn't guarantee to fix an issue. I already used my CWC example in the past where there was an offside player and won a penalty. Despite almost 2 minutes of checking, they didn't see the offside and most people said the same. I think there was another example in that same tournament but I don't remember if off the top of my head.

Football is a very active game with few stops. No timeouts other than HT and several referee decisions. So how many stops will we have with VAR in a 90 minute match anyways? You can't compare football to cricket, basketball or even rugby. As for the Americanized bit, it's an easy assumption to say that they are trying to change the game to pander to American audiences, where it's the 4th almost popular sports. It's a different mentality there. I'll say North Americans to include Canadians, they like rough sports. I'm. Im not saying football isn't rough but not as much as NFL or NHL and they don't seem to think it is. I'm pretty sure this VAR bollocks originated from there. I'd have to double check a bit later on.

To the bit in bold, you're the one saying it's an Americanisation to have video technology. You're the one making an 'easy assumption'. 

What's roughness got to do with anything?

And yes, someone is running the VAR but they have real-time replays to look at - something a referee on the pitch does not have access to. That's where the improvement is. Referee has the chance to see something once. VAR can see something more than once and from different angles to make a better, more informed decision.

As for few stops - I disagree. Plenty of free-kicks, throw-ins, goal-kicks, corners etc happen in a game. It doesn't guarantee to fix an issue but it makes it more likely that the correct decision will be made - I don't see why that should be a bad thing. People say that they love the controversy of the game and love to talk about controversies the next day or in the pub or at work. Until it's a controversial decision that affects their own team winning a game, winning a final, staying in a division etc.

Your example was the first ever trial of VAR in the CWC, was it not? That's exactly what it was - a trial. A chance to see where improvements can be made and a chance to see how it can work well in various situations. 

It's also only used for major decisions as mentioned in the article in the OP - 'goals, penalty incidents, red cards and cases of mistaken identity'. 

[nudge]

Bundesliga will have video assistant referees from the start of the 2017/2018 season too! They ran tests during matches this season, and apparently the results were very encouraging - according to the reports, video analysis and decision takes only a few seconds.

At the moment, it will only be used in 4 situations:

1.      Irregularities in the case of a goal decision (a foul, handball and offside)
2.      In penalty box situations where the referee unjustifiably awarded a penalty or not
3.      For offences that should lead or should have led to a red card
4.      In cases of mistaken identity over a yellow or red card.

[Guest]

Part of the fun in football is the controversy as you said. I don't know about others but when I go to our games the referee is usually awful, so we leave the games insulting and booing him. Like last night! However I can't remember the last time I criticized a referee for us losing a game. Ive seen some god awful refs here and in important matches too which we lost but after booing the ref I just forget about it and blame the loss on the team. Leave blaming the ref for the glory hunters.

If it's for major decisions only then it could work. I still prefer it to not exist at all because I like the controversy, handball goals, mistaken identity. Let the game flow on it's own. Referee errors exist and will continue to exist for the rest of time. 

Goal line technology as I said, is different. It kills a bit of controversy, yes but at least that's a machine decision and is only one bit of controversy it's killing off, not everything else. 

There are stops in football, you're right but with few stops I was more going to the comparison with other sports.

[SirBalon]

This is a great idea!  An idea that curiously enough Florentino Pérez is currently fighting against in Spain (yeah I know...  Here he goes again, but it's true).  I hope they implement this everywhere in football because it will mean the team that deserves it wins by law!

[ScoRoss]

It's a very easy and lazy way to criticize something and labelling it 'American'. Goal line technology has been great and I'd wait to see how VAR is actually used before criticizing it, rather than bashing it on no basis.

[SirBalon]

1 minute ago, ScoRoss said:

It's a very easy and lazy way to criticize something and labelling it 'American'. Goal line technology has been great and I'd wait to see how VAR is actually used before criticizing it, rather than bashing it on no basis.

As long as it isn't "Sin Bins" I'm willing to listen.

[Bravado]

I'm up! As long as Portuguese pundits stop complaining about refs all the time...

[ScoRoss]

 

[SirBalon]

35 minutes ago, Cannabis said:

Surprised that Italy are on board so soon given how much corruption has historically took place there. 

It shows Italy's intent to grab the day and get in there by making football fair. Maybe now Juventus will suffer a bit more. It's a shame some personalities in Spanish football are trying their hardest to hinder this advancement in La Liga. 

[Honey Honey]

I don't see how this will work. I've seen enough Italian football to know that the camera crew spend half their time trying to pick out pretty women in the crowd rather than capturing the game.